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The quarterly construction price and cost indices (PCIs) are produced for use in estimating, cost checking and fee negotiation on public sector construction works. Responsibility for the production of PCIs transferred to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 1 April 2015.

Please contact ONSby emailing if you have any questions about the indices.

Transfer of construction price and cost indices from BIS to ONS

The transfer was announced by ONS and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on 13 March 2015. ONS is now responsible for managing the existing contract with Aecom, the company BIS contracted to make improvements to the existing methodology and to collect data and compile the indices. ONS is responsible for setting out plans for improvements to methods and to reinstate regular publication of the construction PCIs and their reassessment against the code of practice for official statistics.

BIS continues to be a user of the PCIs, and of other ONS statistics on the construction industry, and will provide input and support to future PCI developments.

Consultation on improvements to construction price indices

Suspension of publication of construction price and cost indices

BIS has decided that the new construction input cost indices (ICI) and output price indices (OPI) previously announced for publication on 12 December 2014, will not now be published. This will be while further work is carried out.

Over the last year BIS has undertaken a significant programme of work to introduce new and improved methodologies to replace the previously published tender price indices, resource cost indices and output price indices. Following the consultation in July 2014, BIS and its contractors Aecom have been working to implement suggestions to improve the proposed ICI methodology. Following a final quality assurance of the new indices BIS has concluded that they are not yet sufficiently reliable for publication. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

BIS will continue to work closely with Aecom and other experts to ensure that the new indices are available as soon as possible. Office of National Statistics (ONS) will continue to publish implied output price indicators in their monthly release on output in the construction industry.
A revised publication date will be announced in due course.